An Ideal Education
A Collaborative Manifesto*
By Students of Phil-Soc 202 E, Spring ‘22, York College, CUNY
At the end of the semester, students wrote about their visions of an ideal education in final philosophy papers. Students had the option to also share an idea or favorite quote about education in this manifesto. Here is what they had to say…
“Children Must be taught how to think, not what to think”-Margaret Mead
This quote is one of my favorites because it reminds me of how my family would to try an educate me. This means that what a child chooses to do with their life within an appropriate age should not be judged or be frowned upon or to teach a child the appropriate steps to take when any decision is made. For example, if a child already has planned to bully someone it is impossible to change the thoughts that come to them instead, it should be taught all possibilities leading up to bullying a student. Many adults do not know the difference when it comes to education. (Annabelle R Isaac)
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all”- Aristotle
This quote is one of my favorites because it means educating someone requires the educator to touch the soul within and inspire the student to continue. Without being to educate someone within, there’s no point at all to educate someone elsewhere.
This quote is a favorite of mine because it shows the importance of having a good relationship with your students and the impact it can have on not only their education but their lives. (Kelsey Soto-Feliz)
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own – not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.“- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations.
This is meaningful to me because it touches on the idea that we are all humans and we are bound to live together and cooperate; we should learn from one another and look out for each other. We should never give up on making a positive difference. With education, we can create unity and balance in this world full of perceptions and ideologies that divide us. (Marcos Acosta Veras)
“The boy saw the comet and suddenly his life had meaning.” – Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray).
This quote is very meaningful to me and might be to some others, if you’ve ever watched the show, “One Tree Hill.” It symbolizes faith to me in a way, to have hope for someone/something. It can be a feeling you have for a passion or anything/anyone that makes you happy. I felt like at a point in my life I was just there, overwhelmed, overthinking, alone. Then it hit me, I had a goal, something I was striving for that I needed to feel like, that motivation what drives me. The quote can also relate to finding your significant other and finding someone who makes you happy. If you’re looking for a show to watch, I highly recommend this one. It’s not only a “teen drama show” you can actually bond with the characters and the show can help give you meaningful lessons. (Priyanka Singh)
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” – John Dewey
This quote shows the importance of education as more than school work and tests but rather the knowledge to live and prosper in life through past learnings. I believe education should be more than a grade course but rather lessons that can be implemented into our daily lives. (Yenifer Rosario Cruz)
“Education should not be seen as something like filling a container with water, but rather as helping a flower to grow in its own way.” – Bertrand Russell
This phrase is significant for me since education should not be seen as filling a glass of water and leaving our students without knowledge, but rather as teachers we should help our students to obtain new knowledge and let them themselves put this knowledge into practice, improve their skills and become successful in life. (Gabriela Tipan)
I believe that students and teachers should be taught to the ultimate limit regardless of the type of school the student or teacher attends. The specific type of school should not be a deciding factor for a child’s education. The quality of the teacher should matter more. (Keijana Greene)
“Education is about empowerment, about cultivating a human being to the highest possible potential, a tool for fulfilling the immensity of being.” -Sadhguru.
I find this quote very inspiring and meaningful because it shows that gaining an education shouldnt be something that students find as a burden. Education should allow an individual to learn what they like and dislike, in order to help them become their best possible self. Every individual has the opportunity to do and become something great, getting an education shouldn’t just be about exams and papers it should allow an individual to gain a deeper perspective on themselves and their strengths and weaknesses. Once an individual figures out what they are best at they can use that to become the best version of themselves. (Rabeeyah Baksh)
“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” -Aristotle
I like this quote because everyone has some sort or difficulty in one field or another but the degree at the end makes it all worth it. You are going to have a couple of hiccups in your educational career, but you cannot let the hard days make you quit. The hard days make the degree more meaningful to yourself, every time you look at it, you are reminded of all the trials and tribulations you went through. (Mohammed Hoque)
“What we learn with pleasure we will never forget.” – Alfred Mercier
I like this quote because everything we know or remember has some sort of significance to us. We tend to not remember the things or information we do not care about. When learning is made fun, we will have that memory forever linked along with what we learned. Education should be fun, not a burden. (Okelia Holder)
“Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.” – John Dewey
I like this quote by John Dewey because of what it stands for. What students are taught in class should be connected to what they experience in their daily lives. I believe that education is the process of obtaining or providing methodical instruction. Education creates and involves critical thinking which is vital in children learning how to use logic when making decisions and interacting with people. This boosts creativity, enhances time management, develops social skills and much more. I agree with this quote because education helps children gain the skills needed in life in order to succeed. (Cesar Rodriguez)
“If we teach today, we taught yesterday we will rob our children of tomorrow.” – John Dewey
I believe that John Dewey meant that the education from previous generations is no longer effective to today and tomorrow’s generation. Children are active learners and need the opportunity to explore, experiment, and communicate their ideas in order to gain the skills needed in their life. Children learn through active play, hands-on experiments, visuals, and socialization. When children are told to sit down quietly and given worksheets and assessments, I believe that children are not able to reach their full potential because they are being pressured to meet school statistics. Play is especially important for younger children’s physical, cognitive, and emotional development. Children gain better social skills not only with classmates, but family members and people outside of school. Children gain a sense of structure, which helps them gain organizational skills.
What I got from both quotes altogether is that education plays a significant role in our lives. It does not only help form growth but helps build who we are as beings. We learn how to think critically, independently, and dependently. We gain skills that help us through our everyday life even after graduating and obtaining degrees. Each generation had their own form of teaching children and adolescents, but I also believe as the years go by education evolves along with our future children. (Cesar Rodriguez)
“Will you like all your children? Of course not. And you know your toughest kids are never absent… The tough ones show up for a reason for a relationship.” – Rita Pierson.
(Christopher Sorrentini)
I believe in the public school system. I am a product of that system and I turned out well. I believe the public school system can be fixed. If we come together as communities, we can make a better tomorrow for all our public school children.By investing in public school system we are not only investing in our children, but our country as well. (Eugenia York)
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela.
This quote is important because to me it means that in order to move forward you must have some type of education to be able to elevate your mind!!!
If we apply this quote to the public school system we would be able to expand our ideas on ways to develop the system in order to keep our children within the system instead of them being bused to other types of educational institutions. (Eugenia York)
“The ideal student would be one who was not working for grades but was working because he was interested in the work and not trying to compete with fellow students.” – Carl David Anderson
I believe that a lot of students worry more about achieving the highest grade than understanding the material. This causes a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety in students. Some schools offer awards or celebrate the students with the highest marks which causes competition in receiving the highest grade. What the above quote means is that the ideal student would only be interested in the material and not just trying to receive a good grade, this would represent meaningful learning. Schools should be more focused on their students comprehending the material and finding ways to test that without handing out grades. (Madison Kissoon)
I believe in my vision of an ideal education is equal access towards education. So everyone can have equal access towards opportunities to be wealthy and successful. Education goes so much beyond just getting a job and making your parents happy. In fact, it’s one of the most powerful tools out there. These powerful tools can provide stability, needed for equality, allow for self-dependency, confidence, and making your dreams come true. Education provides stability in life. It’s something that no one can ever take away from you. By being well-educated and holding a college degree, you increase your chances for better career opportunities and open up new doors for yourself. In order for the entire world to really become equal, it needs to start with education. If everyone was provided with the same opportunities for education, then there would be less gaps between social classes. Everyone would be able to have an equal chance at higher paying jobs, not just those that are already at that viewpoint in life. With that being said, everyone should be given a chance to experience what it feels like to succeed. Despite where they came from. (Citradevi Omwathath)
“In short, what is the alternative to the City University where the children of the poor, where the children of the working class and the lower middle class, what is the alternative where our children of American rejection and hatred are concerned? How else will these, our children, achieve a self-respecting self-sufficiency?”- June Jordan
This quote is meaningful to me because she is stating the truth about the racist & prejudice system that is still present to this day. Where will all of the Black, Latino and other people of colors go for education? Where will they go when hatred is all around? How will they get their education without paying high sums of money and without being in debt? CUNY was the only place that allowed free education for minorities. Up until CUNY decided that there were too many minorities who were graduating at the top of their class. I think this is a racial & prejudice issue that needs to be talked about more & be diminished completely. (Rozelyn Johnson)
Video: The importance of educational psychology
“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela said it. Today we can verify it. Education allows us to better understand the world in which we live. Through education, we have become thoughtful about what happens around us. (Anne-Marie Clerville)
* Idea for Collaborative Manifesto courtesy of Bruce Mao’s 24 Principles for Designing Massive Change in Your Life and Work.This manifesto exercise can be adapted for a variety of means, including kickstarting department-wide change. Cathy Davidson and Shelly Eversley used it to kick off the Transformative Learning in the Humanities’ Summer Institute with 51 faculty from 17 or 18 different campuses.
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